Today in history

On Sept. 8, 1504, Michelangelo’s towering marble statue of David was unveiled to the public in Florence, Italy.

In 1565, a Spanish expedition established the first permanent European settlement in North America at present-day St. Augustine.

In 1664 the Dutch surrendered New Amsterdam to the British, who renamed it New York.

In 1892 an early version of the Pledge of Allegiance appeared in “The Youth’s Companion.”

In 1900 about 8,000 people died when a hurricane and tidal wave struck Galveston, Texas.

In 1921 Margaret Gorman, of Washington, above, was crowned the first Miss America in Atlantic City.

In 1930 the comic strip “Blondie,” created by Chic Young, was first published.

Also in 1930 Scotch cellophane tape made its debut as a sample of the tape, invented by Richard Drew of 3M, was shipped to a Chicago firm that specialized in wrapping bakery goods in cellophane.

In 1934, 134 people died in a fire aboard the liner Morro Castle off the New Jersey coast.

In 1935 Sen. Huey Long, “The Kingfish” of Louisiana politics, above, was shot and mortally wounded; he died two days later.

In 1939 President Franklin Roosevelt declared a “limited national emergency” in response to the outbreak of war in Europe.

In 1941 the 900-day Siege of Leningrad by German forces began during World War II.

In 1944 Germany fired the first of its V2 rockets, which were faster and more powerful than the V1, into London.

In 1951 a peace treaty with Japan was signed by 48 other nations in San Francisco.

In 1952 the Ernest Hemingway novel “The Old Man and the Sea” was published.

In 1966 the science-fiction TV series “Star Trek” premiered on NBC.

In 1971 the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts opened in Washington with a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s “Mass.”

In 1974 President Gerald Ford granted an unconditional pardon to former President Richard Nixon.

AP FILE

AP FILE